


Trial by Fire

by nickofhearts



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Assassin's Festival, Dubious Consent, Gladiators, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-22 03:37:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11958888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nickofhearts/pseuds/nickofhearts
Summary: Gladiator AU.





	Trial by Fire

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dreamingcicadas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamingcicadas/gifts).



> IMAGINE [THIS](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DIhtz-RVoAAkVGh.jpg:large) BUT BLOOD-SPLATTERED AND V I C I O U S.

**I.**

It'd been a gamble perhaps, to throw Noctis in with the cut-purses and the murderers at the colosseum in Altissia, to say nothing of the _literal_ wolves that would be sent after him in the ring, but the young prince had done well for himself. Even at the distance from which he watched, Ardyn could see the fires of vengeance burning in him. His fighting ability was improving with each bout that he won, as violence and bloodthirstiness wore away at any mercy he might have shown.

It was _quite_ the display, and Ardyn was well pleased with his progress.

-

Noctis was still blood-splattered and grimy with the day's work when he was brought up to Ardyn's room, and new scars now marred his once-pretty features. Ardyn found he liked this better. Noctis might be the Chosen King, but he was still _touchable._

"What do _you_ want?" Noctis snarled at him.

Ardyn smiled. The innocent carefree youth had been lost with his city's burning, his father's cruel murder at the hands of one he'd unwisely trusted, and the Noctis that stood before him now was a _weapon_ being honed down to its sharpest edge, that had to fight minute-by-minute to prove the value of its own worth.

"You've done far better in the matches than anyone might have anticipated," Ardyn commended him.

Noct blew out a derisive breath. "Thought I'd be dead by now?"

"It was a probable conclusion," Ardyn agreed, though not one he himself had held. Noctis' continued existence was of essential importance to _him,_ after all.

"So?" Noctis asked again, his stance tight with tension, as if he could no longer remember how _not_ to fight. Ardyn found it quite...titillating. " _What do you want?_ " Perhaps impatient for the answer, Noctis had warped forward and was now holding a sword at Ardyn's throat, drawing a thin trail of blood with the weapon's fine edge, though he _had_ stopped himself from going directly for the kill—he was learning to be shrewd as _well_ as ruthless.

Ardyn merely offered him another placid smile. "And after you murder me, Noctis? What then?"

Noctis' gaze flicked to the doors, remembering the guards that'd brought him, and perhaps the ones that lined the streets outside. His face had been well-recognized even _before_ he'd become a favourite in the fights.

"It was I that convinced the Emperor to allow you...this opportunity, instead of the execution he'd planned."

"Should I _thank_ you?" Noctis spat at Ardyn, though he released the sword from his grip.

"Merely a suggestion that I may yet be the most useful ally you shall find in these times." 

Noctis sneered. "At a _cost?_ "

Ardyn graced the prince with a truer smile than he'd shown him as yet. Noctis _had_ learned well. "Nothing comes free."

Noctis moved forward to close the remaining distance between them, spreading his knees across Ardyn's lap as his yet-bloody fingers twisted themselves in Ardyn's scarf and Noctis angled a vicious kiss against his lips. There was no finesse to the action, but that held its own charm. Ardyn was finding himself _quite_ pleased with the results of his machinations.

 

**II.**

Noctis' eyes were still _red_ when he came in through the door, the whisper of the shadows of swords humming around him. He warped into Ardyn, toppling them both onto the bed with the kind of fervor like there was no difference for him between fighting and fucking—biting at Ardyn's mouth so blood smeared red and copper-sweet between them, grabbing for anything he could reach and tearing it through his hands. Noctis had no words to give him, only growling low tones like a _beast,_ not even when Ardyn pinned his wrists against the bed to fuck him. Noctis bared his teeth at him in a savage grimace, stained red with Ardyn's blood.

It wasn't until after that he remembered himself, like the sun breaking through darkest dawn. "Wha—?" groaning as he rolled over to catalogue the teethmarks _Ardyn_ had left on him in turn.

"You were in the heat of the moment, I suppose," Ardyn allowed. He glanced pointedly at the shreds of fabric that _had_ been a lovely jacket but were now tatters strewn in ruins across the floor. "You're becoming _quite_ expensive for my wardrobe, Noctis."

" _Could've_ been your throat," Noctis remarked before he settled down again to sleep, the smile on even his resting face sharp now at the corners.

 

**III.**

"Oh," Noct muttered when he was shown into Ardyn's suite again the next evening. " _You_ again."

Ardyn raised an eyebrow at him.

"People are starting to _talk,_ you know, since only bored noblewomen ever ask for gladiators night after night." 

"I _do_ enjoy your company, Noctis."

Noctis snorted. "Isn't your _Emperor_ getting suspicious of how often you come to see me?" He shrugged out of the standard gladiator rags, messy with blood though it'd been a light day for Noctis—most of the fights had been competitions of exotic daemons imported from the far corners of Eos. Ardyn's eyes followed the path of the marks across his skin, newer still-healing scars overlaying the old, and the _oldest_ one, on the small of his back, not given to him in the ring.

"The Emperor has other concerns," Ardyn answered him, yielding to temptation and drawing his fingers over Noctis' skin along the path of scars. "Who I take to bed is not a matter of the state."

Noctis tilted a smile at him from beneath his lashes, and Ardyn wondered who'd taught him this particular artfulness, because Noctis hadn't been so coy when they'd begun their affair. " _Isn't_ it?" he asked, even while Ardyn pressed soft kisses against his mouth, taking advantage of Noctis in a tractable mood. "No one _else_ is allowed to ask for me, are they?"


End file.
